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| Introduction and general information Mon Sep 30 08:48:59 1991 |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
PowerVisor V1.10ß © Jorrit Tyberghein (sep 91)
-----------------
PowerVisor is a powerful debugger designed to do almost everything
you can think of. Even if you can't think of it it will probably still be
possible :-)
What I meant to say with the above is that PowerVisor is
rather complex to use. I recommend that you read the tutorial sections
even if you think you can cope. Once you have mastered the program
you will probably be able to debug your programs in a very short
time.
Note that I TRY to make PowerVisor as user friendly as possible (look
at the emphasis on the word 'try'). In this new version for example,
menus have been added (at least for the AmigaDOS 2.0 version) and some
of the errormessages are better.
Read the tutor files and execute each command as mentioned
there. All lines you have to type are preceded by a '<'. Some special
keys are notated as <key>. <enter> is used for the return key.
All output from PowerVisor is preceded by a '>'.
If you must press two keys together there is a '+' between them:
<alt>+<enter>.
All input and output in this tutorial is for the AmigaDOS 2.0
version. In most cases this does not matter. If there are
differences between the two versions it is mentioned in the tutorial
in the following form: (1.3 : .......)
Shareware and disclaimer
------------------------
PowerVisor is shareware. This means that you can copy it and give
to everybody. If you like the program and/or use it, I'd appreciate
it if you send me a contribution. If you send $25 US or more
you automatically get the next major release when one is available
(I will also add you to the list of registered users).
PLEASE send money by international money order, EuroCheck (in Belgian
Francs (BF) !) or cash, because it's very difficult for me to cash
in other checks !
If you want an update please state your current version.
Note that PowerVisor may only be redestributed with ALL FILES
PRESENT (especially this file). Below follows a list of all files
in the PowerVisor distribution.
NOTHING in the PowerVisor distribution may be redistributed seperatelly
or used in any commercial product without prior permission from
the author.
Note that the quickhelp utilities ('MakeHelp', 'ArcFiles', 'Help',
'MakeHelp13', 'ArcFiles13' and 'Help13') are considered seperate
from PowerVisor. You may redistribute the quickhelp utilities
without the rest of PowerVisor if you really want to (read the
'Help.doc' and 'Help13.doc' files for possible restrictions).
This is in fact a BETA VERSION. This means that there are still
some bugs to be solved. If you use this program you are
betatesting PowerVisor. Don't worry too much about this. I think
PowerVisor is rather stable. I use it a lot and I have not
yet crashed with the current version.
I (THE AUTHOR) TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGES INFLICTED BY
POWERVISOR AND THE OTHER PROGRAMS IN THIS DISTRIBUTION. YOU ARE
COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL EFFECTS OF USING POWERVISOR
AND ANY OF THE OTHER PROGRAMS. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK !
I'm sorry
---------
I'm sorry for the bad English. I speak Dutch and English is
only my second language. The tutorial files as they are in
the current distribution are NOT corrected at all. I didn't
even reread everything. I'd very much appreciate corrections of the
online help and the tutorial files.
Compatibility with PowerVisor V1.00ß and V1.01ß
-----------------------------------------------
PowerVisor is still in beta release. This means that big changes
are unavoidable. Here follow all things that have changed.
If you have made ARexx programs, scripts or ML-scripts you will
probably have to change some things :
- 'refresh' ALWAYS expects two arguments. The second
argument (command) is no longer optional
- New 'pvcall 17' and other pvcall commands
- New strong quote operator (·)
- The '#' operator is removed. Replace it with the '\' operator :
#<var> ----> \(<var>,%s)
- The 'eval' function expects a string pointer instead of a string
- The 'libfunc' command expects a negative argument instead of
a positive one
- The <maximum number of functions> argument is removed from
the 'loadfd' command
- 'memory', 'view' and 'unasm' work differently when another
number of bytes is used (see documentation)
- All error numbers have changed because the obsolete error
numbers are removed
- The 'PVSD' fileformat ('loadtags', 'savetags') has changed.
There is no way to convert. You need the original source
(.struct file)
- 'why' command is gone and is replaced with an alias in
the standard PowerVisor-startup file
- Many fields described in 'TheWizardCorner' have changed. Some
pvcall functions have become obsolete and DO NOT work anymore.
Some pvcall functions have been REPLACED with others
- The PowerVisor expression evaluator is more strict. You MUST
close ALL brackets (also {} brackets)
- PowerVisor commands called from ARexx are not interruptable anymore
with <esc>
- Important change in the logical window system. (See the changes
section for more details)
- Major change in the history buffer mechanics. The history
buffer list has changed (see 'TheWizardCorner')
- The File format of s:PowerVisor-config has changed !
Please delete this file first before you start the new version of
PowerVisor !!!
- Commandline options for PowerVisor are removed since they were
not very useful
- 'scan' works differently. You don't need to free the string
allocated with 'scan'. The pointer to the input string is
NOT returned in 'rc' but in the predefined constant 'INPUT'
- The number of pens in the pentable has changed from 16 to 24
The development cycle
---------------------
I started development of PowerVisor (two and a half years
ago, February 1989) on an Amiga 500 with two diskdrives and one
megabyte of memory. (except for holidays, I only programmed in the
weekends since I was at my university for the rest of the week)
PowerVisor (at that time called 'PowerBase') was going to be a
structure viewer. The 'list' and 'info' commands are in fact the
most ancient commands in PowerVisor.
At that time I did not think about writing a debugger. I could
not even write one if I wanted to. After all, PowerVisor was
only my second machinelanguage program on Amiga and I was still
learning machinelanguage.
(my first program in machinelanguage was a little program to
blink the powerled, I made this program together with someone
else :-)
(In fact PowerVisor is also my last machinelanguage program, I
normally program in C)
I bought my first harddrive about five months later (30 megs).
Exactly one year ago (in September 1990) I bought my
Amiga 3000/16/40! Needless to say this was a great development
boost. I almost immediatelly expanded my Amiga to 4 megabytes
of memory.
About one month ago I bought a second harddrive (52 megs) for
my Amiga 3000.
At this moment (September 1991) the PowerVisor source is
approximatelly 32500 lines long and all other ascii files
(help files, scripts, ...) are approximatelly 33000 lines.
Conclusion : If I were to start all over again, I would not use
machinelanguage (or perhaps only for the exception handling and
other special code). It is too much work. At this moment I don't
regret my choice of machinelanguage, but this is only because I
already have programmed all support routines and making some new
PowerVisor command or other feature is simply a matter of calling
the right routines.
Bugs
----
PowerVisor was programmed on an Amiga 3000 with AmigaDOS 2.0.
I have tested the program on AmigaDOS 1.3 and everything seemed
to work. I have not been able to test PowerVisor on any other
Amiga configuration.
PowerVisor is a big program. This means that bugs are unavoidable.
If you find some bugs, or have some suggestions please write.
I'd like PowerVisor to be as bug free as possible.
In this distribution there is a file 'pv.bugs' describing all bugs
in the current version. Consult this file if you discover some
weird behaviour.
Give (at least) the following information when you report a bug :
- Hardware configurations you have used (if a bug occurs
on one hardware configuration but not on another one, please
give both hardware configurations)
Hardware configurations includes :
Processor (68000, 68010, 68020, 68030, 68040, ...)
Coprocessor (68881, 68882, ...)
MMU (68851, ...)
Amiga model (500, 1000, 2000, 2500/20, 2500/30, 3000/16,
3000/25, 3000UX, 3000T, CDTV, ...)
Available memory (chip ram, fast ram, other, ...)
Harddisk information
Other hardware expansions (graphics card, sound card, ...)
- Software configuration you used
Software configuration includes :
Operating system (AmigaDOS 1.2, 1.3, 2.0)
If you can run more than one operating system on
your Amiga, test the bug in the different versions
Version of KickStart and WorkBench (in Workbench
about menu or with 'version' cli command)
Other programs running while the bug occurs (screen
blankers, popup programs, ...)
- Describe the bug and the sequence of commands needed to
get the bug
Describe all output (including flashing lights, strange sounds,
noises, ...)
History
-------
V1.00 :
- first release (on tapserv and ab20.larc.nasa.gov)
V1.01 :
- Bug fix : when 'mode fancy', 'mode nofancy', 'mode lace'
or 'mode nolace' failed (for example, because there is
a visitor window open on the PowerVisor screen) we didn't
restore the current mode. This means that when you
tried again later (after closing the visitor window) PowerVisor
would ignore the command
- Bug fix : when the 'mode' command failes because there is
not enough memory, we first try again with the old mode
settings before quitting PowerVisor
- New feature : new 'stack' command and 'getstack' function to
monitor stack usage for a specific task. 'stack' uses the
timer.device for very fast respons
- We removed an obsolete feature from 'refresh'. The optional
command argument is no longer optional
- The standard logical window commands have an extra optional
argument. With this you can specify the number of lines for a
logical window
- The previous new feature is also included in the 'openlw' command
- Bug fix :Logical windows are much more stable with big fonts and
small visible sizes. No more crashes when the logical window is
too small
- Bug fix : parsing of [<x>] operator in alias strings was not
completely correct. Because we did not ignore the operator
if <x> was no digit we could not quote the operator. This is
solved
- New PowerVisor debug mode accessible with 'pvcall 17'. This
debug mode is useful if you want to debug aliases, scripts,
key attachements or other special things in PowerVisor. Every
command is printed on the screen before it is executed
- Bug fix : 'if' function now always correctly parses the
arguments. Because of some very obscure bug it could happen
that the 'if' function parsed to much characters from the
string
- Added strong quote operator in strings because I needed it
in the 'salias' alias
- The '#' operator is removed because the same functionality
is already present in the quote operator '\'. Just use
\(<x>,%s) instead of #<x>
- Behaviour of the 'eval' function has changed ! 'eval' now
expects a string pointer (or normal pointer) instead of
a string. This turned out to be more useful
- Limitation removed in 'colrow' and 'fit' commands. It is
now possible to size the 'debug' logical window
- Bug fix : The 'colrow' and 'fit' commands are now very stable.
When an out of memory error occurs, they simply try again for
the old values. If this also fails PowerVisor will quit
(in the previous version a command like 'colrow 30000 30000'
would crash your amiga)
- Behaviour changed for 'libfunc' command : the offset argument
must be negative and only the 16 least significant bits
are used. Thus something like $ff30 is a valid offset (this
is also the format given by the disassembler)
- Bug fix : The 'loadfd' command now handles multiple ##bias
statements in fd-files correctly. In V1.00 all functions
where correctly loaded but not correctly counted. The effect
of this was that 'info <fd node>' did not show all functions
in the fd-file
- Removed a completely useles feature from 'loadfd' : it is
no longer possible to specify the maximum number of functions
to load. 'loadfd' always loads the complete fd-file
- Added workbench startup
- Startup is cleaner. We don't crash anymore if the wrong
PowerVisor is used on the wrong operating system.
We are also a lot more stable in low memory conditions and
other wierd environments
- We didn't close dos.library
- New 'Aliases' reference file explaining all aliases defined
in s/PowerVisor-startup and s/pv/ExtraAliases
- New aliases in s/PowerVisor-startup (salias and fdebug)
- The 'db' script is better. Opens a fixed size logical window
so you don't need to size it everytime you use the fullscreen
debugger. 'db' also redefines 'fdebug' to clean up the
fullscreen debugger
- New 'ExtraAliases' script to define some extra aliases
- Created flexible install script
V1.10 :
- Bug fix : PowerVisor no longer crashes when a logical window
is made too small
- Removed incorrect statement in 'CommandReference' about 'fit'
and 'colrow' not suitable for the 'debug' logical window
- Incorrect statement in 'Screen' removed. The 'debug' logical
window is 90 columns instead of 82
- New function 'lastbytes'. This function returns the last number
of bytes used with the 'memory' or 'view' command
- New function 'lastlines'. This function returns the last number
of lines used with the 'unasm' command
- 'memory', 'view' and 'unasm' remember the number of bytes or lines
viewed (see the previous functions) and will continue with this
number at a later time
- New aliases 'cm', 'cv' and 'cu' to continue 'memory', 'view'
and 'unasm' respectivelly without setting a new address. You
can set the number of bytes or lines though
- Bug fix : we don't allow illegal variable names any more
- Finally all obsolete errors are removed
- Bug fix : 'LoadTags' and 'SaveTags' correctly handle structures.
When you try to load previously saved tags, PowerVisor will check
if the structure exists and will use this pointer instead of
the old one. If the structure does not exist, PowerVisor will
change the type of the tag to Long/Ascii and give a warning
at the end of the loading
- Behaviour changed : 'LoadTags' no longer clears the current tag
list but adds the tags from the file to the current tag list
- Note that the PVSD file format has changed (used for 'LoadTags'
and 'SaveTags'). PowerVisor does NOT understand the format
used by PowerVisor V1.00 and V1.01
- Install script is better. We check if the files exist before
we try to copy them. If a file doesn't exist we ask another
pathname to the user. This means that you can distribute
PowerVisor on different disks (in fact you will have to
distribute PowerVisor on different disks if you don't compress
the files). The installation script won't give errors because
of non existant files. Simply put the other disk in the drive
- We print more information in the cli structure (with the 'info'
command)
- New glossary file for explaining some specific PowerVisor
terminology
- 'Why' command is gone. It is more efficient to define an
alias for 'why' in s/PowerVisor-startup
- Some optimizations, PowerVisor is a bit shorter. This has
some effect on some internal fields. See the
'TheWizardCorner' file for more info about the format of
the commands in the routine table
- Because of the previous optimization there are no more commands
working in ARexx but not in PowerVisor and vice versa. You can
now use the 'front', 'hide', 'sync', ... commands in PowerVisor
too. And the 'clip' and 'remclip' commands work in ARexx
- Some new 'pvcall' functions for logical windows
- Bug solved in 'salias' alias. This alias loosed memory everytime
we runned it
- The 'co' function (or 'GetCode' ML-script) will not crash anymore
if used in AmigaDOS 1.3 with a non special key. The function will
return 0 instead
- A complete new directory 'PVDevelop' for the PowerVisor Wizards.
This subdirectory contains include files and libraries useful
to make ML-scripts in C or machinelanguage
- New assign : 'pv' to the root of the PowerVisor subdirectory.
This assign is only used by the develop files
- 'openlw', 'openpw', 'xwin', 'rwin', 'owin', 'awin' and 'dwin'
give an error when there is not enough memory. In the previous
version, the memory failure was simply ignored
- No more ugly flickering of the BUSY prompt when executing
ARexx scripts
- Bug solved in 'unasm' with very long instructions. The hexadecimal
words would overwrite the instruction
- New 'bin' alias in s/PowerVisor-startup to show the binary
representation of a number
- New 'asm' alias and s:pv/assem.pv ARexx program for a simple
assembler. See s:pv/assem.pv for more info about the assembler
- Two new 'pvcall' functions to disassemble one line of memory
in a string (s:pv/assem.pv uses this)
- The PowerVisor expression evaluator is more strict. You
MUST always close all brackets. I have done this because there were
some problems (especially in 'alias') if badly formed expressions
are used
- The same is true for the group operator
- New 'cmd' alias and ARexx script to execute Cli commands from
within PowerVisor
- Bug solved in strong quote parsing
- PowerVisor commands called from ARexx are not interruptable anymore
with <esc>
- Important change in the logical window system. Input is now local
to a logical window. This means that when a command waits for
input (either a line of input or a key (-MORE- for example)) all
other logical windows will be locked. This means that accidently
hitting a key will not have undesirable results. All input is
redirected to the active logical window (the one with the full
(blue) titlebar)
- <esc> and <ralt>-<help only work for the output appearing on the
'ACTIVE' logical window, so you have to use <tab> to interrupt a
command running on another logical window (also see the previous
item)
- Note that the stringgadget still behaves weird in AmigaDOS 1.3
If anyone out there knows a legal way to UNSELECT (UnActivate)
a stringgadget I would appreciate it very much. In AmigaDOS 2.0
simply removing the gadget and adding it again is enough to
unselect the gadget, but this does not seem true in AmigaDOS 1.3.
- New 'event' command to add an input event to the main handler.
This is useful for macros (key attachements)
- The AmigaDOS 1.2/1.3 version of PowerVisor doesn't need arp.library
anymore (I needed it only for the 32 bit multiply and divide. I
have now put these two routines in pv13)
- Fixed yet another bug in the structure viewing and the 'info'
command. If the list item in a structure was a string, there would
be some strange characters after the string
- Many bugs and errors are corrected in the online help and tutor
files
- AT LAST ! Mstruct is converted to AmigaDOS 1.2/1.3 ! Now you can
make your own structures and use them in PowerVisor even if you
don't use AmigaDOS 2.0
- Major change in the history buffer mechanics. The history buffer
now works like in the AmigaDOS 2.0 shell. It is no longer a
circular list (how coud I ever have such a bad idea :-)
This means of course that s:pv/PrintHist.pv, s:pv/SearchHist
and Source/SearchHist.asm have changed a bit. I hope you had not
written anything using the internal structure of the history
buffer, because you will have to change your programs if you did
- At last ! The autorepeat bug in the AmigaDOS 1.2/1.3 version of
PowerVisor is solved. You can now scroll in the history buffer and
in the logical windows with autorepeat
- Although it was already possible to set a font for a logical window,
this could not be done automatically and the stringgadget and
logical window size bars remained in topaz 8. Now it is possible to
set the default font for PowerVisor (with 'prefs font'). This font
is used for all new logical windows (you can of course still change
this font when the logical window is already open), for the
stringgadget, for the logical window size bars and for the screen.
- WARNING !!! The File format of s:PowerVisor-config has changed !
Please delete this file first before you start the new version of
PowerVisor !!!
- Commandline options for PowerVisor are removed since they were
not very useful
- All the 'prefs' commands have a more readable output. I use decimal
output when decimal is more appropriate than hexadecimal
- Some pvcall functions are removed because they were obsolete (Signal
command and IDCMP command)
- MAJOR ! The AmigaDOS 2.0 version of PowerVisor finally supports
menus. You can make your own menus with your favorite commands in
it. I'm very sorry, but this is only for the AmigaDOS 2.0 version
- When 'reqtools.library' (© Nico François) is available, PowerVisor
will use this library for requesters with the new commands :
'reqload', 'reqsave', 'request' and 'getstring'
Otherwise, simple PowerVisor constructions are automatically used :
'scan', 'key()'
- There is a new predefined constant 'input'. This constant contains
the pointer to the last input string (with 'scan', 'getstring',
'reqload' and 'reqsave'). You don't have to worry anymore about
freeing all the strings allocated with 'scan'
- Bug fix in 'debug l' and 'debug n'. We did loose some memory when
the loading failed or when 'debug n' was interrupted by the user
- More predefined pens (24 instead of 16), 19 of these pens are used
- Four new pens for the colours of the stringgadget (only AmigaDOS 2.0)
- Bug fixed in 'symbol' command. PowerVisor sometimes said there were
no symbols even if it previously loaded them. This bug was harmless
but I fixed it anyway :-)
All files
---------
PowerVisorLib (dir) This subdirectory contains files needed
to use to powervisor.library in your programs
pv_lib.fd fd-file containing function definitions for
the powervisor.library functions
pv_lib.h C header file containing pragmas for the
powervisor.library functions. This file
is written for Lattice C 5.0. If you use
another compiler (like Aztec) you may
need to rewrite this file. If you use a
C compiler with no support for pragmas you
must make stubs to call the library functions
pv_lib.i Machinelanguage header file.
c (dir) This subdirectory contains all executable
files. All files ending with '13' are for
AmigaDOS 1.3.
ArcFiles The QuickHelp utilities for AmigaDOS 2.0
Help Read docs/help.doc for more info
MakeHelp
ArcFiles13 The QuickHelp utilities for AmigaDOS 1.3
Help13 Read docs/help13.doc for more info
MakeHelp13
MStruct Program to convert pseudo include files to pvsd
files.
This program will be enhanced in future
to support full include files.
MStruct13 AmigaDOS 1.3 version of MStruct
pv AmigaDOS 2.0 version of PowerVisor
pv13 AmigaDOS 1.3 version of PowerVisor
Input Little program needed for the installation
script. 'Input' prints the first argument
on the screen and waits for input. The input
is put in the specified file (second argument).
Syntax : Input <prompt line> <file name>
DevName Little program needed for the installation
script. 'DevName' reads the first line from
a file and replaces the same file with another
file containing only this first line altered
in the following way :
if the first line ends with a ':' nothing
happens
If the first line ends with a '/' nothing
happens
Otherwise a '/' is appended to the first
line
Syntax : DevName <file name>
DirName Little program needed for the installation
script. 'DirName' is equivalent to 'DevName'.
'DirName' removes the last character of the
first line if it is a '/'.
Syntax : DirName <file name>
libs (dir) All libraries needed by PowerVisor
powervisor.library This library is needed by PowerVisor
docs (dir) All documents for PowerVisor
GettingStarted Read this file if you are a first-time user
Aliases This file explains everything about the
aliases defined in s/PowerVisor-startup
and s/pv/ExtraAliases
Expressions All about expression evaluation in PowerVisor
Screen Everything about screens and windows
InstallingPowerVisor How to install PowerVisor
Scripts Everything about scripts (ARexx, ...)
LookingAtThings How to look at memory, disassemble, ...
Debug How to debug programs
CommandReference All PowerVisor commands explained
Functions All PowerVisor functions explained
Lists All lists
Glossary The PowerVisor glossary, reading this file is
a very good way to learn all (or most)
PowerVisor terminology
TechnicalInfo Some technical information
TheWizardCorner Only for VERY experienced users. Using this
file you can customize PowerVisor to enormous
degrees. Look in the 'Source' directory for
examples using information from this file.
Also look at the 'PVDevelop' directory useful
for making your own powerful scripts (and
ML-scripts)
Global.index The index for all above files
GettingStarted.idx The individual index files for all tutor
Expressions.idx and reference files
Screen.idx
Aliases.idx
InstallingPowerVisor.idx
Scripts.idx
LookingAtThings.idx
Debug.idx
CommandReference.idx
Functions.idx
Lists.idx
TechnicalInfo.idx
TheWizardCorner.idx
Screen.contents The contents files for all tutor files
GettingStarted.contents
Aliases.contents
Expressions.contents
InstallingPowerVisor.contents
Scripts.contents
LookingAtThings.contents
Debug.contents
CommandReference.contents
Functions.contents
Lists.contents
TechnicalInfo.contents
TheWizardCorner.contents
Help.doc Manual for QuickHelp
Help13.doc Manual for QuickHelp 1.3
CancelDouble This program cancels all double lines in
a file. This program is used by
'MakeGlobalIndex'
CancelDouble.c The source for 'CancelDouble'. You should
be able to compile this program on any
C-compiler
ExtractIndex.rexx This rexx script is used by 'MakeIndex' to
construct the index file for one individual
tutor file
ExtractIndexSE.rexx This rexx script is used by 'MakeIndex.se' to
construct the index file for one individual
tutor file
MakeGlobalIndex This script file combines all index files
made by 'MakeIndex' to make the global index
MakeIndex Make the index and contents file for one
tutorial file.
This version uses the 'egrep' (or 'gnugrep')
command by 'Free Software Foundation, Inc.'
This version is faster than 'MakeIndex.se'
but you need 'egrep' of course ('egrep'
is not distributed with PowerVisor)
MakeIndex.se Make the index and contents file for one
tutorial file. This version uses the
standard AmigaDOS 'search' command, but it
is slower
Source (dir) This subdirectory contains sources for
various scripts and example programs
included with PowerVisor
FreeError.asm These two programs crash your Amiga,
stackovf.asm except when PowerVisor is running (I hope)
Executables for these files are in the
'Examples' subdirectory
BuggyProgram.asm Example programs used in the 'debug' tutorial
BuggyProgram2.asm file. Executables for these files are in the
'Examples' subdirectory
CheckBrackets.c Program to check brackets. Executable file
is in 's/pv'. Source is for Lattice C 5.0
only
GetCode.c Program to compute the keycode for a named
key. Executable file is in 's/pv'. Source is
for Lattice C 5.0 only
GetQual.c Program to compute the keyqualifier for a
named qualifier. Executable file is in 's/pv'.
Source is for Lattice C 5.0 only
Exec.struct PowerVisor source for 'Exec' structure
definitions.
pvsd file is in 's/pv'
intuition.struct PowerVisor source for 'Intuition' window
structure definition.
pvsd file is in 's/pv'
mkeys.explained Same script file as 's/pv/mkeys' but with
a lot of comments
pptest.asm Program to test the powervisor.library.
Use as an example. Executable file is in
the 'Examples' subdirectory
takeme.asm Program to test 'debug t'
Executable file is in the 'Examples'
subdirectory
SearchHist.asm Source for history search program. Executable
file is in 's/pv'
PVDevelop (dir) This subdirectory contains include files and
libraries useful for PowerVisor Wizards. There
are include files for C and machinelanguage
include (dir) Subdirectory containing all include files
for PowerVisor (except for the
powervisor.library include files because these
are in another subdirectory)
PV (dir) The recomended place for the include files
ARexxBase.h The ARexx Base structures
ARexxBase.i
DebugBase.h The Debug Base structures
DebugBase.i
EvalBase.h The Eval Base structures
EvalBase.i
FileBase.h The File Base structures
FileBase.i
GeneralBase.h The General Base structures
GeneralBase.i
ListBase.h The List Base structures
ListBase.i
MainBase.h The Main Base structures
MainBase.i
MemoryBase.h The Memory Base structures
MemoryBase.i
ScreenBase.h The Screen Base structures
ScreenBase.i
PVCallRoutines.h Protos for the PVCall routines
PVCallTable.h Table with PVCall routine numbers
PVCallTable.i
PVMemory.h PowerVisor memory allocation structures
PVMemory.i
Lib (dir) All the C libraries (for SAS/C) to make
calling PVCall functions from C easier
PVCallStub.lib The library for small code
PVCallStubNB.lib The library for large code
Source (dir) The source for these libraries
README A README explaining some things. If you
'execute' this file, the two libraries
will be build again
PVCallStub.i Include file needed for all functions
makefile makefile used by 'README'
PVCBeep.asm All sources for all PVCall functions
PVCError.asm
PVCAddAutoClear.asm
PVCAddGlobalAutoClear.asm
PVCAddStringToHist.asm
PVCAdvanceHistory.asm
PVCAllocPVBlock.asm
PVCAppendString.asm
PVCCallMLScript.asm
PVCClosePVHandle.asm
PVCCompareStrings.asm
PVCComputeGadgetSignal.asm
PVCConvertAlias.asm
PVCCopyString.asm
PVCCreateConstant.asm
PVCCreateFunction.asm
PVCErrorHandler.asm
PVCEvaluate.asm
PVCFreePVBlock.asm
PVCGetARexxBase.asm
PVCGetDebugBase.asm
PVCGetEvalBase.asm
PVCGetExecLevel.asm
PVCGetFileBase.asm
PVCGetGeneralBase.asm
PVCGetHistoryLine.asm
PVCGetListBase.asm
PVCGetMainBase.asm
PVCGetMemoryBase.asm
PVCGetModeRoutines.asm
PVCGetRexxList.asm
PVCGetRoutines.asm
PVCGetScreenBase.asm
PVCGetSnapBuffer.asm
PVCGetStringGadget.asm
PVCGetStringGBuf.asm
PVCGetStringInfo.asm
PVCGetVarAddress.asm
PVCInstallPostCmd.asm
PVCInstallPreCmd.asm
PVCInstallQuitCmd.asm
PVCInstallSnapCmd.asm
PVCLowerHistory.asm
PVCParseString.asm
PVCPrint.asm
PVCPrintNum.asm
PVCReAllocPVMemoryBlock.asm
PVCReAllocPVQuickBlock.asm
PVCRefreshLogWin.asm
PVCRefreshStringG.asm
PVCRemoveGlobalAutoClear.asm
PVCRemVar.asm
PVCSetCursorPos.asm
PVCSetDebugMode.asm
PVCSkipSpaces.asm
PVCSnapWord.asm
PVCDisassemble.asm
PVCCmdDisassemble.asm
PVCPutChar.asm
s (dir) Online help and scripts
PowerVisor-menus Only for the AmigaDOS 2.0 version. This
file contains the description of the menus
used in PowerVisor. The format is not
difficult. You can change this file if
you'd like other menus
PowerVisor-help Online help file. This file contains all
online help and the templates. You can't
use 'help' and 'why' when this file is
not present. Note that the online help
file is not the good place to start learning
PowerVisor. Use the tutorial files in the
'docs' subdirectory for that purpose.
PowerVisor-ctrl Online help control file. Use the QuickHelp
utilities to update this file when you
have changed something in the PowerVisor-help
file. You need this file if you want
online help
PowerVisor-errors All error messages for PowerVisor. You need
this file if you want to make errors :-)
No, you need this file if you want to see
a sensible error message.
Each line in this file must be 70 bytes
PowerVisor-startup The startup script for PowerVisor. This
script installs various new commands and
keys
pv (dir) This subdirectory contains all scripts you
can use
db PowerVisor script to install the fullscreen
debugger. This script also assigns some
keys to useful debugging commands
ExampleSetting PowerVisor script to show an other window
configuration posibility. Use as an example
for more useful settings
ExtraAliases This file contains some extra useful
aliases not defined in the s/PowerVisor-startup
file
icopy PowerVisor script to install a logical window
copy feature. Press 'Shift-PrtSc' to store
the active logical window in an internal
buffer. Press 'PrtSc' to retrieve this buffer
into another active logical window.
This script uses 'GetLogWin' and 'CopyLogWin'
CheckBrackets ML script to check for brackets in the
commandline. Source is in the 'Source'
subdirectory. See the 's/Powervisor-startup'
file for an example of how to install this
feature
GetCode ML script to compute the code of a named
key. Source is in the 'Source' subdirectory.
Note that if you have AmigaDOS 1.3 you can
only use this script to compute the code
of special keys (like 'enter' and 'esc')
and not of normal keys (like 'a', '3', ...).
This script is installed as a function in the
's/PowerVisor-startup' file
CopyLogWin ML script to copy the active logical window
to a buffer. This script is used by 'icopy'.
Source is in the 'Source' directory
GetLogWin ML script to copy a buffer to the active
logical window. This script is used by 'icopy'.
Source is in the 'Source' directory
GetQual ML script to compute the qualifier of a named
qualifier. Source is in the 'Source'
subdirectory. This script is installed as a
function in the 's/PowerVisor-startup' file
SearchHist ML script to search in the history buffer.
Source is in the 'Source' subdirectory. This
script is installed on a key in the
's/PowerVisor-startup' file
ikey This PowerVisor script installs various
special features
mkeys PowerVisor script for a memory display
utility
PrintHist.pv ARexx script to print the contents of the
current history buffer
PrintMode.pv ARexx script to print the current mode
setting in a readable format
ShowAscii.pv ARexx script to show all ascii chars on the
PowerVisor window
Assem.pv Little ARexx assembler. Use the 'asm' alias
defined in s:PowerVisor-startup to call this
script. See the script for more info about
the script
intuition.pvsd pvsd file for the Window structure.
Source is in the 'Source' subdirectory
Exec.pvsd pvsd file for all Exec structures
Source is in the 'Source' subdirectory
Examples (dir) This subdirectory contains some example
programs. Sources for most of these programs
can be found in the 'Source' subdirectory
BuggyProgram Programs used in the 'Debug' tutor file
BuggyProgram2
crash3 Some crash programs
crash4
crash5
crash8
crasha
freeerror
stackovf
pptest powervisor.library test program
takeme 'debug t' test program
ReadThisFirst This file
pv.bugs All bugs in the current version of Powervisor
Install Execute this file to install PowerVisor
or click on icon from WorkBench
Install.script Install script used by 'Install' (Don't
execute this)
Environment
-----------
PowerVisor normally does not expect special assignments or such.
s/PowerVisor-startup however does expect 'fd' to be assigned to
the subdirectory containing fd-files (at least exec_lib.fd,
dos_lib.fd, graphics_lib.fd and intuition_lib.fd). If you do not
have these fd-files (note that you can find them on the AmigaDOS
1.3 Extras disk) you must remove four lines in s/PowerVisor-startup
starting with '-lfd'. You will not be able to use the library
functions defined in the fd-files if you do this (Note that
PowerVisor makes very good use of these fd-files, so I recommend
that you install them if you have a harddisk).
s/PowerVisor-startup also expects the following files in the
s:pv directory : db, CheckBrackets, GetCode, GetQual and SearchHist.
You can of course adapt s:PowerVisor-startup to your own wishes.
If you have reqtools.library (by Nico François) PowerVisor will use
it for requesters. In the next distribution of PowerVisor, reqtools
will be included with all the other files.
If you use AmigaDOS 1.2 or 1.3 I recommend that you use
'FastFonts' (FF) by C.Heath. This program greatly speeds up the
PowerVisor display. This is not necessary in AmigaDOS 2.0 since
Commodore did a good optimizing job.
If you use AmigaDOS 1.2, 1.3 or 2.0 and you have a fast processor
(68020 or higher) I recommend that you use 'CpuBlit' by Eddy Carroll.
This program gives an even greater speed increase.
Installation
------------
Installing PowerVisor should be easy. Simply execute 'Install' (with
the current directory set to the root directory of the PowerVisor
distribution) or double click on the icon.
You will get an interactive install session.
Note that the installation script has only been tested in WorkBench 2.0.
I hope it works with WorkBench 1.3. The installation script does NOT
work with WorkBench 1.2. I tried to make the script as simple as
possible but I failed :-)
Note that the script needs the following cli commands :
- setenv (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- if (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- else (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- endif (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- skip (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- lab (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- ask (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- echo (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- endcli (builtin command in AmigaDOS 2.0)
- makedir
- copy
- version
- delete
- dir
- input (included in the PowerVisor distribution)
- devname (included in the PowerVisor distribution)
- dirname (included in the PowerVisor distribution)
Tutor files
-----------
Here are all the files in the prefered order to read them
tutor files :
GettingStarted For the first time user
Expressions Very important to read
Screen
InstallingPowerVisor
LookingAtThings
Debug
Scripts
reference files :
CommandReference Very useful file
Functions
Aliases
Lists
TechnicalInfo
if you want to look up a specific word :
Glossary
for very experienced users :
TheWizardCorner Only read if you are a PowerVisor wizard !!!!!
Authors
-------
André Pelckmans for the disassembler
Jorrit Tyberghein for the rest
Address
-------
Jorrit Tyberghein
Hepmansbossen 31
2450 Meerhout BELGIUM
Thanks to
---------
André Pelckmans for his disassembler and for giving me all
the programming help I need.
Without him I wouldn't have a computer in the first place (I think).
Nico François for his debugging, his numerous remarks and suggestions.
Without him PowerVisor would have looked COMPLETELY different :-)
(and without him I would have to use two disks to backup the source
of PowerVisor)
Nico François for his WONDERFUL reqtools.library. If you want to use
well designed, flexible and powerful requesters there is no better choice
Ives Aerts for his useful suggestions and criticism.
Adam Hill, Christian Weber, Steven Reiz and Dominic Giampaolo
for their bug reports and suggestions.
Some extra thanks to Adam Hill for his efforts to arouse
interrest in PowerVisor (in BIX for example).
The software people at Commodore for their VERY USEFUL debugging
tools (like 'Enforcer', 'MungWall', ...).
And also for their presence on usenet.
To my parents of course.
Also thanks to the Amiga computer for being an Amiga.
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